


Listening Lessons

by emilyenrose



Category: Bruno and Boots - Korman
Genre: 90s technology, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-06
Updated: 2007-12-06
Packaged: 2017-10-07 22:24:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,737
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/69862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/emilyenrose/pseuds/emilyenrose
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The note, in Diane's neat handwriting, says <em>For your Walkman - not to be shared with ANYONE, and we will know, Walton</em>, and there are three sleek black tapes enclosed with it. Boots laughs when he sees it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Listening Lessons

**Author's Note:**

> This is completely and utterly the fault of sociofemme, who is the loveliest beta a girl could ask for.

For his sixteenth birthday Bruno Walton gets a Walkman from his great-uncle.

He's surprised for several reasons: 1) As anyone who knows him is aware, Bruno doesn't really listen to music much, 2) accordingly he has no tapes, and 3) he didn't actually know he had a great-uncle in the first place. He calls home and his mom says something about dear old Wally, so nice of him to remember, and this turns into an anecdote about that time when great-uncle Wally got drunk at Bruno's christening and waltzed the cleric around the room double-time to the strains of Ella Fitzgerald singing 'The Lady Is A Tramp' on the record player, so Bruno concludes it's just another family thing and hangs up. The Walkman goes to live on a shelf next to the odd-sock stash, and Boots names it Wally Junior, grinning at Bruno.

Bruno would have forgotten about it completely if it hadn't come up in conversation with the Scrimmage's girls one night (approximately ten minutes before he and Boots are forced to run for their lives, shotgun cracking behind them.) Cathy thwaps him. "Why didn't you say something? _I_ have tapes, you pathetic excuse for modern man," she says.

"Hey!" says Bruno. Boots squeezes his shoulder and when Bruno turns to look at him he's smiling, so he scales back his tirade on the dangers of untested technology. For some reason, the girls roll their eyes in perfect unison. It's a little creepy how they can do that. "What?" says Bruno.

Boots' hand drops from his shoulder.

Bruno forgets about it again in the excitement of the next two weeks (the cafeteria is serving substandard desserts! The world is crumbling around us! Bruno organises a funding drive for an actual pastry chef, and the Fish is seen to smile when he picks up his first perfectly fluffy Danish) and it's a Saturday two weeks later when Bruno gets an honest-to-god package in the mail. The note, in Diane's neat handwriting, says _For your Walkman – not to be shared with ANYONE, and we will know, Walton_, and there are three sleek black tapes enclosed with it. Boots laughs when he sees it. "You're just jealous the girls aren't sending you personal packages," says Bruno.

"That's got to be it," agrees Boots.

The music on the first two tapes is actually quite good, though Bruno feels there is something wrong with the concept of just _listening_ to something, all by yourself. He doesn't even notice he's started singing along until the day Boots reaches across him and hits the pause button. "Bruno, you sound like a dying hamster," he says. "_Stop_ it."

"I'm just sharing my music with the world, Boots," he says, sounding as hurt as he knows how, knowing that Boots will never fall for it. "Don't stifle me."

Boots tries to look serious but he's smiling like he can't help it. "The entire school wants to stifle you in your _sleep_ at this point," he says. "Trust me, I'm doing you a favour."

So the Walkman goes back onto the Shelf of Lonely Socks and Bruno never does get around to listening to the third tape. The girls even quiz him about it, but he explains about the dying hamster and Boots' noble intervention and they exchange shifty looks and let it drop. It's been nearly two months since Bruno's birthday when he finally does dig out the third tape and listen to it, and it happens like this:

It's two in the morning and Bruno can't sleep, not at all, and he needs _noise_. He considers waking Boots up to talk at – goes as far as getting out of bed and padding across the room to shake him – but when he actually reaches Boots he can't do it, because Boots was completely exhausted by the swim meet earlier and needs his sleep. He looks happy, all curled up with his hand tucked under his chin and his blond hair going every-which-way. Bruno grins down at him and goes to get the Walkman instead, tripping a little over one of his own dirty shirts on the bedroom floor as he grabs for the tape.

For some reason it's wound to the end, so once Bruno gets back into bed with the headphones over his ears he's got to wait, listening to the hiss of the spiralling tape as it runs back to the beginning. It's a funny sort of feeling, because the headphones don't let any outside sound in, so it feels like he's the only person in the world at that moment, lying there tense and bored with nothing at all to distract him from the white noise of the tape. Finally it clicks into place, and he relaxes and hits play.

"_Okay, okay, is it on?"_ comes Diane's voice.

"_I think so,"_ answers Cathy, very loud – it sounds as if she's right there in Bruno's ear. He jumps a bit. As if on cue, both the girls giggle. "_Testing, testing, one two three_," says Cathy. "_Okay, play it back_."

A little gap of silence, and then Diane's voice sounds low and smooth, like a radio announcer. "_Bruno Walton... this tape is for you and you alone. Anyone else listening had better put it down NOW, or we will find you_."

A silent gap again. Some clunking sounds? Bruno can't quite place them, but this is definitely not music. He grins in the dark, waiting for what comes next. He didn't know the girls even _had_ a tape recorder. "_Hide it!"_ whispers Diane, "_before he gets all the way up here!"_ More clunking, and then:

_"Hi, Boots! No Bruno?"_

_"He's running the bake-off for the pastry chef thing."_ Chuckle. _"The world is still crumbling around us. Apple crumble this time, I think. He won't notice I'm gone."_

A moment's silence, then _"Come here, Boots."_ That's Diane, strangely sympathetic in tone. There are soft noises – are they _kissing_? – no, it's a hug, and Boots says, _"Thanks,"_ a little dryly, a little self-mocking.

_"Are you all right?"_

_"I'm fine, I,"_ – a sigh. "_It's fine, okay?"_

_"Boots."_

_"Seriously, it's all right. I... I don't mind talking about it."_ (And Bruno can just imagine the little smile that goes into the next gap, the sad one, and he's furious, because _what on earth is going on with Boots_ and _why doesn't he know about it already?_) "_No,"_ the tape goes on, Boot's voice in his ear, "_really, I don't mind. Maybe it'll help me get over it. Everyone knows anyway, right?"_

_"Right,"_ says Cathy, decisively.

"_Right_," agrees Diane, and Bruno is lying there quivering with tension, because he _doesn't_ know, he's got no idea. "_He's got no idea, though_," says Diane on the tape. _"He would have mentioned it."_

_"No, he does know, he's got to. Seriously. Elmer knows. The _guidance counsellor_ knows. It's not like I hide it, really – he's just, you know, ignoring it. So things don't get awkward. It's nice of him."_

One of the girls snorts. _"All right. If you say so. But you're here and he's not and we've even got chocolate, and it's not often that we're sympathetic, so now you're going to talk about it."_

Laughing, _"What do you want me to say?"_

_"Everything. From the top. Come on, imagine you're teaching a class or something. Boots' Big Gay Crush On Bruno For Dummies."_

Bruno flails and hits pause. He's probably made some kind of noise; in the other bed, Boots mumbles and turns over. Bruno freezes, breathing shallowly, but Boots doesn't wake up.

Cautiously, hating himself a little bit, he hits play again.

_"...I don't know how I knew,"_ Boots is saying, soft and frustrated. "_It's Bruno. Maybe I always knew a little bit,"_ and Bruno lies on his back, breathing deep and staring carefully at the dark ceiling, while Cathy and Diane encourage Boots to say things like _he's my best friend, I could never imagine anyone_ and _sometimes I wish he didn't touch me so often_ and _I dream about him all the time._

_"What kind of dreams?"_ asks Cathy, teasing.

Boots laughs, "_Guess, genius_!" and Bruno is going to die, he is, but he has to hear this.

_"No, tell us. Big Gay Crush for dummies, remember?"_

_"I – I can't, Cathy, this is embarrassing..."_

_"Come on, don't you trust us?"_ That's Diane. _"There's got to be at least one that's not going to, I don't know, stain the innocence of our souls."_

_"You don't have innocence. I'm not entirely sure you have souls."_ Bruno can picture the grin that goes with that one.

_"Come on, Boots. One dream. One bit of one dream."_

Boots snorts. _"They're stupid. They only make dream-sense. There was one the other night where we were both helping Elmer catch wallabies outside my house while Sid recited Shakespeare and tripped over his own shoelaces. Except I don't actually know any Shakespeare so what he was really saying was 'Friends, Romans, countrymen' over and over again."_

_"...sexy,"_ comments Cathy. She sounds disappointed.

Laughing, from all of them. _"No,"_ says Boots, _"No, I know it just sounds weird, but then we had to go into the house for some reason and we ended up in my room and started... you know. Kissing. It was..."_

_"It was...?"_ prompts one of the girls softly.

"_Good_," says Boots, low and intense, right into Bruno's ear. "_Really, really good_," and Bruno rolls over onto his side and closes his eyes tight and God, he can almost taste it, Boots' fingers on the back of his neck, Boots' mouth – Boots' mouth! – against his, opening for him, and through the headphones Boots is haltingly, haltingly talking, urged on by the girls, _he sat on my bed, I, I got down on my knees, I wanted, I want, I think about_ and Bruno can't help it, he's got his hand wrapped around his cock, and he can't breathe, he can't breathe, he can't _breathe_, and Boots whispers _he pulled my hair, a little_ and Bruno bites down on his own wrist to muffle the sound and comes.

He's dislodged the headphones, but the tape is still playing. In the next bed, Boots is still fast asleep. Bruno hits pause with his non-sticky hand, scoops up the Walkman and practically runs for the bathroom, as quietly as he knows how. The Walkman sits on top of the sink glowering at him like some kind of giant mutant evil spider while he washes his hands, and when he's done he stares at it for a long moment.

Then there's a faint thud and then Chris stumbles out of the stall at the end of the row. "...hi, Bruno!" he says. He's got paint on his hands and on his face, and he looks a little manic. "Are you burning the midnight oil too? _Oil_, hahaha." When Bruno doesn't answer he frowns. "Hey, am I interrupting a special moment between you and Wally Junior? You're not going to start singing again, are you? Cause no offence, but you sound like a dying hamster."

When Bruno still doesn't answer, Chris starts to steer himself in the general direction of the door, and Bruno's about to let him go back to getting high off paint fumes when he realises _wait, wait, here's someone to ask_. "Chris," he says, "Chris, do you think Boots is in love with me?"

Chris pauses in the doorway. "...what? _Everyone_ knows the answer to that one, Bruno."

"I don't," says Bruno.

"Whoa, what? You _don't_?"

"No," says Bruno, a little desperately. "I didn't."

Chris stares at him. "Okay, you know what? I'm not getting involved in this one. Goodnight!" He gives Bruno a stupid little three-finger wave. "Have a nice epiphany!"

The Walkman continues to sit on the sink, black and light-sucking like an_ evil thing_. Bruno stares at it and stares at it. Eventually he gives up, sits down on the cold bathroom floor, slips the headphones back on and presses play. He wraps his arms around his knees and listens intently to the rest, biting his lip. Two minutes from the end, when the conversation finally seems to be tailing off, there are some more clunking sounds – what Bruno is starting to recognise as the sound of someone adjusting the hidden tape recorder. Cathy asks _so do you love him? _

_I think –_ begins Boots, and the tape cuts him off mid-sentence.

After a moment of silence, Diane's radio-announcer voice comes back on. _"Bruno Walton, that was Big Gay Crush 101, just for you. We really hope it helped."_ Cathy is giggling in the background.

Bruno rewinds and listens to the whole thing again – twice. He has to jerk off a second time afterwards. He stumbles out of the bathroom at five in the morning, wild-eyed and dishevelled, and sneaks back into their room to hide the Walkman and, oh god, definitely hide the tape. He gets dressed in the first things he picks up off the floor and buttons his shirt wrong four times before he manages to get it right – he keeps getting distracted by the silent lump of Boots, his sleepy breathing, by the memory of his voice saying things, saying all these things that Bruno knows _he didn't want Bruno to hear.  
_  
Because Boots tells him everything, and if Boots didn't tell him about the Big Gay Crush – which is what it's going to be inside Bruno's head forever and ever now, thanks Diane – then Bruno's got no right to find out like this, find out from someone else. He's got no right to eavesdrop on a conversation which only happened because he wasn't there. Boots tells him things, that's how it is, because he's Boots' best friend (in his head, the tape replays _he's my best friend, I could never imagine_) and Bruno feels guilty and furious and very, very confused.

(If Bruno's honest, his distraction is also partly because he can't stop thinking about Boots blowing him, about Boots' mouth, about how much Boots seemed to _like_ the idea. He even licks his lips a little, imagining what it would be like to maybe, maybe return the favour, to do that to _Boots_, to – well, Bruno knows what Boots sounds like when he comes, they've shared a room for long enough, but he's never sounded like that because of _Bruno_, never because Bruno wanted him to. And maybe Bruno does want him to.

Maybe Bruno's got a little bit of a Big Gay Crush of his own.)

He bumps into Elmer in the corridor outside his bedroom. Elmer has a jar full of bugs and a lab coat on. "Ah, Bruno," he says. "I was just on my way to perform an interesting experiment involving the reaction of bedbugs to the sunrise. I have theorised –"

"Elmer," says Bruno. "You've got to help me." He grabs Elmer by the collar of his lab coat and shakes him a little, gently, for emphasis. Elmer blinks and tries to edge away. "I think perhaps, perhaps a professional in this case would be more, ah, appropriate –"

"Is Boots in love with me?"

Elmer's eyebrows twitch as his brain attempts to switch gears. "Boots? Well, let me see, all evidence certainly appears to suggest –"

"Elmer. _Yes or no_."

Elmer takes a step back. "...yes?"

"God!" explodes Bruno. "Does everyone know?"

Elmer looks around as if hoping someone else is going to answer this question. No one appears to save him. "...yes?" he says again.

Bruno makes an incoherent noise and storms off.

*

"Well, yeah," says Mark.

*

"That's what I thought," says Wilbur.

*

Sidney tries to nod, somehow manages to get tangled in his own tie doing it, and nearly strangles himself.

*

"I heard from Joe in Dormitory One who heard from his friend who swims for Seffers," says the Blabbermouth. Bruno feels dizzy. The race against Seffers School was _last year_.

*

Boots nudges Bruno's side with his elbow during English, directing his attention to a corner of Boots' notebook: _are you ok? You look deranged &amp; you're acting weird!  
_  
Bruno valiantly doesn't have an outburst there and then. Instead he writes _THE WORLD IS CRUMBLING AROUND US!!!_ in large letters underneath Boots' message, smirking like it's a joke, and gets in trouble for making Boots snicker.

*

The Fish fixes Bruno with an unimpressed stare. "Mr Walton, I hear from no less than four of your teachers _and_ the guidance counsellor that you have been behaving in an extremely peculiar manner all day. Would you care to explain yourself?"

"Sir, Boots," blurts Bruno, and then, "Do you think," and then he realises that the only thing worse than the Fish knowing would be knowing that the Fish knows and shuts up.

The Fish sighs and rubs his hand across his eyes. "Walton," he says, "did you even sleep last night?"

"No sir," says Bruno.

"For god's sake, go to bed."

*

"Bruno? Hey, Bruno?"

"Mmmphrgle?" says Bruno, rolling over.

Boots grins down at him. "You really didn't sleep at all last night, did you. What were you _doing_?"

"Urg," says Bruno. He's not really awake yet. Boots is leaning over him, propping himself against the bedstead with one arm, and his hair is falling into his eyes. Bruno blinks at the warm tanned skin of Boot's forearm,_ right there_, in easy reach, and blinks again at the rather less appealing image of Boots' nostrils from this angle. "Urrr?" he tries, pushing himself up into a sitting position. Boots' arm brushes his bare shoulder and pulls away, and Boots steps back, not breaking eye contact. His smile is easy and sure and completely normal. It's like he hasn't even noticed that Bruno is _half-naked_ here, because Bruno sleeps in his boxers, and what kind of Big Gay Crush misses that? It's a hoax, Bruno decides. A great big hoax perpetrated by the girls and they've bribed the whole school to join in somehow. Probably with their girlish wiles.

Boots is laughing at him. "All right, all right, go back to sleep! Just promise me I'm not going to find out what you were plotting last night in a horribly embarrassing way involving a committee."

"No committee," Bruno says hoarsely. His mouth is dry, and suddenly, suddenly Boots' face flushes for _no reason at all_, and he looks away for a moment. Bruno hastily replays the last ten seconds in his head for something out of the ordinary and comes up with nothing at all, just him sounding like an idiot and licking his lips to chase away the sudden dryness. By the time he _gets it_, Boots is already turning away, letting the moment go by with a grin, saying he's going to see Cathy and Diane and Bruno can get on with his Sleeping Beauty act in peace.

"No, no, wait!" says Bruno, and then completely chickens out and turns his next sentence into "I'm coming with you."

By the time they get to Scrimmage's Bruno has worked himself up into being furious on Boots' behalf again. Boots has had his trust _abused_, and that's not the sort of thing a true best friend can stand for: he can deal with the Big Gay Crush issue later, but right now he's going to find that tape recorder and destroy it. He might even get Elmer to build a nuke so he can make sure the job's done properly. Once they've climbed the drainpipe and got into the room, Cathy and Diane take one look at his face and fall about laughing – as if they're actually _trying_ to infuriate him. He glowers at them both.

"What?" says Boots.

"Nothing," says Cathy, not remotely convincing as she can't stop giggling. Diane puts on the radio voice and declares smoothly, "Bruno Walton, tell our listeners how you feel."

"Not you guys too!" says Boots. "Bruno's been weird all day. What's going on?"

Out of the corner of his eye Bruno catches sight of the recorder. It's just sitting there next to Cathy's laundry. He doesn't actually make the decision to stamp across the room and pick it up, it just happens, and the bit where he weighs the thing in his hands while Boots stares just happens, but if he's honest the bit where he throws it out the window is one-hundred-percent intentional. There's a pretty satisfying crash when it hits the ground, and if Boots didn't think he'd gone insane before he definitely must now, but Bruno doesn't care. "You invaded his privacy!" he yells at the girls, and it's way way too loud, so the rest of his rant comes out in a hiss. "You – you _invaders_! You don't get to do that, you don't get to just waltz in and, and _change_ things, I'm his best friend, if he wants to tell me something then he'll just tell me, so you should just-"

"Oh, like you were ever going to work it out otherwise!" Cathy snaps back.

"It's _not your business_, okay! I-"

"Bruno?" says Boots. Bruno's instantly derailed. Boots' face is white, and his eyes flick from the girls to Bruno to the window where the tape recorder made its exit. "You," he says, "oh god, but you knew. You had to know."

Bruno takes two steps across the room to him, ends up right inside his personal space, but Boots just swallows and leans away from him. "I didn't," he says. Boots doesn't reply. Boots won't look at him. Bruno growls in frustration and grabs his wrists to stop him from running away. "I _didn't_, all right, I had no idea, that's why you've got to _tell me things_, Boots!"

"Okay. So." Boots' posture is tight, tense, and his voice has a note in it that Bruno doesn't recognise at first because he hasn't heard Boots sound scared very often. His hands twist a little in Bruno's grip but he's not really trying to get free, Bruno knows: if Boots really wanted him to let go he could make him, he's stronger. And none of it makes a difference because he still won't meet Bruno's eyes. In the background the girls are looking from one of them to the other like spectators at a tennis match. "So we're all right, though, aren't we?" Boots says.

"I – yes! I mean, no!"

Cathy makes a little choked giggling noise, Diane buries her head in her hands, and Boots pulls away from him, disentangling his wrists from Bruno's fingers with a quick sharp movement. "Oh," he says. "Okay. Fine."

"What – no!" explodes Bruno, and Boots opens his mouth, obviously about to get it all wrong again, and really the only thing to do is stop him before he starts to talk, so Bruno grabs him by the shoulder and kisses him.

"Hmm," says Diane after a few seconds. "Sincere, I guess. Six out of ten."

"Are you joking? Four," says Cathy. "Four and that's _generous_. _Awful_ technique, Bruno."

"Get lost," says Bruno as he pulls away, but his heart's not in it. Boots is staring at him, biting his lip a little. Bruno brings his other hand up to Boots' other shoulder and pulls him in and Boots lets himself be pulled, stumbling closer so they're very nearly pressed against each other, only an inch of space between them. "You _tell me_ next time," repeats Bruno.

Boots starts to grin. "Okay."

When Bruno leans in for the second kiss, Boots' hands come up to steady him, one splayed against his ribs, one soft and insistent on the side of his face. It's still a little awkward at first, but then Boots tilts his head to the side a little and suddenly everything fits, everything is perfect, and after a moment he feels Boots' lips part against his and that's his _tongue_ and Bruno finally gets what all the fuss is about. When they break apart he's panting and Boots smirks at him. "All right?"

"All right," agrees Bruno.

"Hoodlums! Hooligans!" comes a shriek from the doorway.

While they've been distracted things have apparently been happening, since Miss Scrimmage is standing in the hall in a terrifying nightdress-and-furry-slippers ensemble and being forcibly prevented by Cathy and Diane from racing to get her shotgun. "Appalling! I shall tell Mr Sturgeon what his boys have been up to in front of my innocent angels –"

"But Miss Scrimmage!" says Cathy. "Please, Miss Scrimmage, this is a very romantic moment!"

"Absolutely," Diane agrees fervently, "and, and it wouldn't have been possible without our, er, nurturing influence –"

Miss Scrimmage sniffs and observes Bruno and Boots with a narrow glare that makes Bruno feel about three inches high. Next to him Boots is blushing so hard he looks like he's coming down with something, but he hasn't moved away – instead the hand on Bruno's ribs moves to the small of his back, where Bruno is prepared to swear it makes his skin tingle through his shirt.

"Humph," she says finally. "You boys have _two minutes_ to leave and if I catch you here again –"

"Yes, Miss Scrimmage," says Bruno at once. "We're so sorry, Miss Scrimmage, we just had to express our gratitude to Cathy and Diane –"

"Five minutes ago you were _yelling_ at them," mutters Boots. Bruno elbows him in the side. "We won't bother you again!" he continues. "What a wonderful school you run, by the way, and what intelligent, _nurturing_ young women you teach –"

Diane coughs. It sounds like '_toomuch!_'. Bruno decides it's time to cut their losses and get out of there.

*

"Guess we're lucky that Miss Scrimmage is a romantic," says Boots once they've made their escape. They're wandering back across the grass to MacDonald Hall, not quite touching, but close enough that Bruno can feel the warmth of Boots' body all down his right side.

"Yeah, I – wait," says Bruno as it hits him. "_Wait_. Boots. Be honest with me. Are you seriously telling me that _Miss Scrimmage_ knew before I did?"

Boots snickers. "Well, how was I supposed to know how much of an idiot you are?"

"You live with me!" says Bruno indignantly. "You're my best friend! You –"

"I'm an idiot too, all right." Boots turns to him and Bruno grins into the kiss, knots his hands in Boots' hair and lets himself feel every last thing, the way Boots' lips are chapped and the warmth of his mouth and the slight roughness of his face where he's started shaving once a week this year, and the strength in his arms and the way his hands are trembling a little bit and the slight night breeze that's blowing across them both.

"S'cold," mutters Boots.

"Hang on," – Bruno looks around – " I know! The cannon! It's sheltered!"

Boot stares at him. "Bruno, we have a _bedroom_. I'm not making out with you next to the cannon!"

"Why not? It's right here."

"Right here _in front of the faculty building."_

"Everyone's asleep! And it's all out in the open air, it's _romantic_. You don't want to disappoint Scrimmage, do you?"

Boots groans. Bruno wraps an arm around his waist and drags him the ten paces or so to the cannon. He's not really protesting very much at all, and anyway he stops once Bruno starts kissing him.

*

"So what was on it?" asks Boots several minutes later.

"You have grass in your hair," says Bruno, picking it out.

"_Bruno_."

"What?"

"What was on the tape, stupid?"

Bruno shrugs. "It was you, and the girls. Talking about it."

"Yeah?" says Boots.

"There was. Um. You talked about," and Bruno is obviously never going to get to have sex ever if he can't even _talk_ about it.

Boots' eyes get wide, and then he grins wickedly at him. "Oh, I get it. The blowjob dream, right?" Bruno can feel his own face getting hot, but Boots leans over him, straddling his lap, and whispers, "Anytime. You know that, don't you?" and Bruno just puts his hands on Boots' hips and nods and swallows and nods again. Boots kisses him quickly and pulls away.

"You know," he says, a bit diffidently, "I don't think I ever told the girls the dream I had about your mouth, did I?"

"I – no," says Bruno. "But you could tell me. I'm a really good listener now."

Boots laughs. "You broke the recorder!"

"Okay," says Bruno. "So maybe I can tell you things instead."

Boots grins. "Yeah. I guess that works too."


End file.
